Zimbabwe newspaper "fake news" clickbait? ''Zimbabwean-born British novelist Ishiguro wins Nobel Literature Prize'' https://thefutureofreading101.blogspot.tw/2017/10/the-zimbabwe-mail-newspaper-fakes.html
Sunday, October 08, 2017
The Zimbabwe Mail newspaper fakes a headline to get more traffic to its site? ''Zimbabwean-born British novelist Ishiguro wins Nobel Literature Prize''
Zimbabwean-born British novelist Ishiguro wins Nobel Literature Prize
The Zimbabwe Mail-2017年10月7日
This headline was posted and is still available on Google News if you type in search window for Google News from "Climate Fiction Novels" and scroll down a bit to find it. I love it!
There are two Chinas: one is the free, democratic nation of Taiwan; the other is the mindcontrolled dictatorship of Communist China. Go figure!
A well-known poet and essayist in Taiwan, Mr Min-yung Lee, often writes opeds in the major Chinese-language newspapers in Taiwan, with the Liberty Times daily paper being his most popular platform. I've been following his work for years and now his columns are reprinted in English in the Taipei Times newspaper, the sister publication of the Liberty Times.
Expert translators do the translations and the final product in English is important to share worldwide, so that the rest of the world learns the truth about Taiwan.
Taiwan is not part of Communist China, and never was and never will be. It is an independent, sovereign nation 100 or so miles off the coast of Communist China. For Taiwan's 23 million people, Taiwan is home, Taiwan is their nation.
In a recent oped in English in the Taipei Times, Mr. Lee explained to international readers some of the details of Taiwan's long and complicated history.
''Taiwan’s modern and contemporary history dates from more than a century ago," Lee wrote. "During the early period between 1895 and 1945, it was subject to Japanization. The middle period from 1945 to 1995 was one of sinicization, and the late period, since 1995, has seen an unfinished process of Taiwanization."
He added: "Starting from the nation’s native inhabitants, the Aborigines, Taiwan has passed through various stages, including Dutch colonization, followed by the Kingdom of Tungning founded by Cheng Cheng-kung better known as Koxinga, and then by the Qing Dynasty. In the process, it has formed a cultural profile that is different from China’s and manifests itself in daily life.''
For most people in the world, Taiwan remains ''an invisible island'' in some alternate sci-fi universe, and sadly most nations in the international community have cosied up to Communist China's propaganda and say along with brainwashed and mindcontrolled Beijing that there is only ''one China.'' But in fact, there are two Chinas: one is the brutal and dark Communist China, and the other is the free, sovereign, democratic Taiwan. Taiwan is not part of China and never was and never will be.
Just today, the Taipei Times published a news story that goes into some of this confusion here, that echoes the oped that Mr Lee wrote.
If you want to know more about the real history of Taiwan and the real propaganda of Communist China's dictatorship, read the news article here and the very good oped by Mr Lee as well at the link below in the last sentence.
And if you have any questions or comments about all this, please feel free to use the comment box below this article to make your opinions heard. All views are welcome on my blog.
To read the entire Lee oped essay, see the Taipei Times link here.
Expert translators do the translations and the final product in English is important to share worldwide, so that the rest of the world learns the truth about Taiwan.
Taiwan is not part of Communist China, and never was and never will be. It is an independent, sovereign nation 100 or so miles off the coast of Communist China. For Taiwan's 23 million people, Taiwan is home, Taiwan is their nation.
In a recent oped in English in the Taipei Times, Mr. Lee explained to international readers some of the details of Taiwan's long and complicated history.
''Taiwan’s modern and contemporary history dates from more than a century ago," Lee wrote. "During the early period between 1895 and 1945, it was subject to Japanization. The middle period from 1945 to 1995 was one of sinicization, and the late period, since 1995, has seen an unfinished process of Taiwanization."
He added: "Starting from the nation’s native inhabitants, the Aborigines, Taiwan has passed through various stages, including Dutch colonization, followed by the Kingdom of Tungning founded by Cheng Cheng-kung better known as Koxinga, and then by the Qing Dynasty. In the process, it has formed a cultural profile that is different from China’s and manifests itself in daily life.''
For most people in the world, Taiwan remains ''an invisible island'' in some alternate sci-fi universe, and sadly most nations in the international community have cosied up to Communist China's propaganda and say along with brainwashed and mindcontrolled Beijing that there is only ''one China.'' But in fact, there are two Chinas: one is the brutal and dark Communist China, and the other is the free, sovereign, democratic Taiwan. Taiwan is not part of China and never was and never will be.
Just today, the Taipei Times published a news story that goes into some of this confusion here, that echoes the oped that Mr Lee wrote.
If you want to know more about the real history of Taiwan and the real propaganda of Communist China's dictatorship, read the news article here and the very good oped by Mr Lee as well at the link below in the last sentence.
And if you have any questions or comments about all this, please feel free to use the comment box below this article to make your opinions heard. All views are welcome on my blog.
To read the entire Lee oped essay, see the Taipei Times link here.
Wettermorphose - Allgemeiner gesprochen: Es gibt mittlerweile haufenweise "Cli-fi"-Szenarios, apokalyptische Totalkatastrophen, Auslöschung in Cinemascope.
by Alex Rühle
BIO: Alex Rühle wurde 1969 geboren und wuchs in den Isarauen auf, wo er eines Tages Andreas Zielcke über den Weg lief. Der nahm ihn mit zur SZ, wo Rühle seither Junge für alles ist. Wenn er nicht im Büro ist, sitzt er entweder auf seinem Fahrrad, spielt was von Bach oder schaut seinen Kindern beim Großwerden zu.
Sandy zum Beispiel. Der Hurrikan, der 2012 große Gebiete New Yorks unter Wasser setzte, darunter Chelsea, einen Stadtteil, in dem jeder zweite Bewohner Künstler, Filmemacher oder Schriftsteller ist. Viele von ihnen wurden schwer getroffen von der Sturmflut, Ateliers versanken, Wohnungen wurden wertlos. Aber hat auch nur einer von ihnen über die konkreten Auswirkungen einen Film gedreht, einen Roman geschrieben, eine Bilderserie gemacht? Nichts dergleichen. Allgemeiner gesprochen: Es gibt mittlerweile haufenweise "Cli-fi"-Szenarios, apokalyptische Totalkatastrophen, Auslöschung in Cinemascope. Aber kaum etwas über das, was konkret vor unser aller Augen passiert. Oder wie der indische Schriftsteller Amitav Gosh es ausdrückt: "Es wurden unzählige Romane geschrieben und Filme gedreht über den möglichen Totaluntergang New Yorks. Aber es gibt kein einziges Werk über seinen tatsächlichen Untergang."
Gosh hat soeben ein Buch in Essayform über dieses rätselhafte Vakuum geschrieben. "The Great Derangement" dreht sich um die Frage, warum die Künste den Klimawandel bislang kaum bearbeiten. "Spätere Generationen", so schreibt er, "werden zu dem Urteil kommen, dass in unserer Zeit die Künste allesamt nur noch dazu dienen, die Wirklichkeit zu verschleiern und abzumildern. Diese Epoche, die so unglaublich stolz ist auf ihre Selbsterkenntnis, wird eines Tages als die Epoche der großen Umnachtung gelten."Vielleicht sollte man Gosh ein Ticket nach Bonn kaufen. Für die dortige Bundeskunsthalle. In der Ausstellung "Wetterbericht. Über Wetterkultur und Klimawissenschaft" wird nämlich der Versuch unternommen, Kunst und Wetter, Kultur und Klimaforschung miteinander in Beziehung zu setzen. Die Kuratoren Stephan Andreae und Ralf Burmester lassen die Besucher einen Tag durchschreiten, von der Morgendämmerung bis in die Nacht und teilen die verschiedenen Wetterphänomene - Sturm, Regen, Wolken - unterschiedlichen Tageszeiten zu, was so simpel wie stimmig ist, schließlich hängen Wetter und Zeit untrennbar miteinander zusammen, ja in vielen Sprachen verschmelzen die chronologische Zeit und das atmosphärische Wetter zu ein und demselben Wort, man denke an das französische "temps" oder das italienische "tiempo".
Nun ist Wetter das, was wir täglich erleben, während sich Klimazustände erst aus mehreren Jahrzehnten Wetterdaten ablesen lassen. So geht es hier immer zugleich um das Große Ganze und den kleinen Schauer, den örtlichen Sturm und die globale Erwärmung. Und es geht zugleich darum, wissenschaftliche Entdeckungen und Kunstwerke einander spiegeln zu lassen. Wie bedingen Klima und Kultur einander? Was wissen wir über das Wetter? Seit wann? Und wie wurden die jeweiligen Entdeckungen in der Kunst verarbeitet?
Sandy, for example. The Hurricane, which put 2012 large areas of New York under water, including Chelsea, a district where every second resident is an artist, filmmaker or writer. Many of them were hit hard by the storm surge, studios sank, dwellings became worthless. And yes, a few writers have made a film about the concrete impact, written a novel, made a picture series, yes, contrary to what Ghosh, who did not do his homework, says. So there is some of that. See cli-fi.net
More generally, there are now cli-fi scenarios, apocalyptic total catastrophes, extinction in cinemascope. But hardly anything about what actually happens before our eyes. Or, as the Indian writer Amitav Gosh puts it: "There have been countless novels written and films shot about the possible sunset of New York, but there is not a single work about its actual downfall." But Ghosh who did not do his homework is wrong. See for example Nathaniel Rich's ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW and Kim Stanley Robinson's NEW YORK 2140.
Gosh has written a book "The Great Derangement" that revolves around calling for the arts to work harder on writing and movies on climate change. That's why cli-fi was coined. "Later generations," he writes, "will come to the conclusion that in our time the arts are all about disguising and lessening reality. This era, which is so incredibly proud of its self-knowledge, will one day as the epoch of great disrespect, if we do not write more cli-fi now as soon as possible."
Maybe you should buy Gosh a ticket to Bonn. Good idea! Maybe he will wake up to all this. For the Federal Art Hall there. In the exhibition "Weather Report on Weather Culture and Climate Science" an attempt is made to relate art and weather, culture and climate research. The curators Stephan Andreae and Ralf Burmester let the visitors walk through one day, from the dawn to the night, and share the different weather phenomena - storm, rain, clouds - different times of the day, which is as simple as it is harmonious together, and in many languages, the chronological time and the atmospheric weather merge into the same word, think of the French "temps" or the Italian "tiempo".
Now weather is what we experience every day, while climatic conditions can only be seen from several decades of weather data. This is always the case at the same time around the big picture and the small showers, the local storm and the global warming. At the same time, it is a question of making scientific discoveries and works of art mirror each other. How do climate and culture require each other? What do we know about the weather? Since when? And how were the respective discoveries processed in art?
Ein Beispiel: Wolken waren in der Geschichte der Menschheit immer nur Wolken. Selbst die klassifizierungswütigen Europäer hatten nie daran gedacht, all diese Haufen und Schlieren am Himmel genauer zu untersuchen, zu flüchtig waren sie in ihrer Erscheinung, Wettamorphose in Reinkultur. Bis sich der Engländer Luke Howard vor den Toren Londons ins Gras legte. Der schweigsame Einzelgänger schaute jahrelang den Wolken beim Ziehen zu. 1802 hielt der völlig unbekannte Apotheker dann vor der Askesian Society in London seinen bahnbrechenden Vortrag "On the modification of clouds", indem er die Wolken in unterschiedliche Kategorien einteilte. In Anlehnung an Carl von Linnés Systematisierung der Pflanzen- und Tierwelt wählte Howard lateinische Bezeichnungen für seine Wolkentypen, seither schweben Cirrus-, Cumulus- und Stratuswolken durch die Welt.
Die Bundeskunsthalle zeigt Howards Skizzen, luftig-zarte und dabei sehr akkurate Aquarelle, die aber so leise wirken wie die auf ihnen abgebildeten Wolken. Ihnen gegenüber hängen Gemälde von John Constable, wuchtige Landschaftsbilder, hochdramatisches Wolkengequirl über scharf ausgeleuchteten Hügellandschaften. Constables Bilder sind direkte Antworten auf Howards Studien: Der Maler kannte dessen "Modification of clouds", seine Bilder wirken wie subjektive Antworten auf Howards kühle Feststellungen. Das wirkt in der Gegenüberstellung, als hätte Wagner mathematische Formeln vertont.
Im Grunde will diese ganze Ausstellung den Blick so umdrehen: Wir Menschen sind nur zu Gast, winzige Wesen in einem großartigen Spektakel, dessen Zusammenhänge uns erst langsam und vielleicht zu spät klar werden. William Turners Atmosphärenbilder, die letzten Exponate in diesem Raum über Wolken, sind im Vergleich mit Constable und Steinberg von unglaublicher Farbintensität, flirrend, schlierig und verschwommen. Direkt daneben steht ein filigranes Messgerät für Aerosole, das angibt, wieviele Schwebeteilchen sich in einem Gas befinden. So wird angedeutet, welche unsichtbaren Ingredienzen durch viele Turnersche Sonnenuntergänge schweben: Der Ausbruch des Tambora auf der Insel Sumbawa im heutigen Indonesien 1815 führte in den darauffolgenden Jahren zu einem globalen Kälteeinbruch und zu spektakulären Sonnenuntergängen. Turner wusste nichts davon, als er seine rosalila Farbsalven komponierte.
"Mir bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als fest an die Möglichkeit zu glauben, dass wir eine komplette Destabilisierung des Klimas noch verhindern können." -- Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
"I have no choice but to firmly believe in the possibility that we can still prevent a complete destabilization of the climate." -- Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
For example, clouds were always clouds in the history of mankind. Even the classifying Europeans had never thought of examining all these heaps and streaks in the sky, they were too fleeting in their appearance, betamorphosis in reink culture. Until the Englishman Luke Howard lay before the gates of London in the grass. The silent loner looked up at the clouds for years. In 1802, the completely unknown pharmacist held his groundbreaking lecture "On the modification of clouds" before the Askesian Society in London, dividing the clouds into different categories. In accordance with Carl von Linné's systematization of the plant and animal world, Howard chose Latin names for his Wolk types, since then Cirrus, Cumulus and Stratuswolken hover throughout the world.
The Federal Art Gallery shows Howard's sketches, airy, delicate and very accurate watercolors, which, however, appear as soft as the clouds depicted on them. Opposite you are paintings by John Constable, powerful landscape images, highly dramatic cloud whirling over sharp illuminated hillsides. Constable pictures are direct answers to Howard's studies: The painter knew his "Modification of clouds," his pictures seem like subjective answers to Howard's cool findings. This seems to be the opposite of Wagner's mathematical formulas.
Behind Constable's exaggerated dramas hang sky studies by New York artist Saul Steinberg, who radically turn around our barren, human-centric perspective: every time there are black stick figures on the floor of the picture. Above it, however, an ever different sky spreads out, sometimes compact, sometimes pink, sometimes dramatically black, sometimes lovely blue. What is man against Nature?
Basically, this whole exhibition wants to turn the view like this: We humans are only guests, tiny beings in a great spectacle whose connections are only slowly and perhaps too late. William Turner's atmospheric images, the last exhibits in this space above clouds, are incomparably colorful, fluttering, fuzzy and blurred compared to Constable and Steinberg. Directly beside it stands a filigree measuring device for aerosols, which indicates how many suspended particles are in a gas. In the following years, the eruption of the Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia in 1815 led to a global cold collapse and spectacular sunsets. Turner did not know about it when he composed his rosalila color albums.
Eine Vitrine erinnert an den Engländer Robert FitzRoy, den tragischen Erfinder der Wettervorhersage. Der Seemann und Wissenschaftler wurde nach einem Schiffsunglück 1861 mit dem Aufbau eines landesweiten Sturmwarnsystems beauftragt. Da er dafür aber nur auf Messdaten auf den britischen Inseln zurückgreifen konnte, ohne etwas über die Wetterverhältnisse auf dem Atlantik zu wissen, lag er so oft falsch und erntete soviel Spott, dass er in Depressionen verfiel und sich 1865 das Leben nahm. Geradezu tragisch liest sich in dem Zusammenhang das Interview im Katalog mit dem Klimaforscher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, der auf die Eingangsfrage, ob er als Berater der Bundesregierung nicht oft verzweifle, salomonisch antwortet: "Mir bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als fest an die Möglichkeit zu glauben, dass wir eine komplette Destabilisierung des Klimas noch verhindern können." Er gibt der Menschheit eine Chance von 1:5, dass sie das Schlimmste noch verhindert. FitzRoy wusste noch nichts über das Wetter, einer wie Schellnhuber weiß enorm viel über Klimazusammenhänge, trotzdem hört die Politik kaum wirklich zu.
Im November findet in Bonn die 23. Weltklimakonferenz statt. Hoffentlich schauen viele der Teilnehmer in einer der Verhandlungspausen hier vorbei.
Wetterbericht. Über Wetterkultur und Klimawissenschaft. Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn. Bis 4. März 2018. Der Katalog kostet 45 Euro.
A showcase reminiscent of the Englishman named Robert FitzRoy, the tragic inventor of the weather prediction.
After a shipwreck in 1861, the sailor and scientist was commissioned to build a countrywide storm warning system. Since he was only able to make use of the data on the British Isles without knowing anything about the weather conditions on the Atlantic, he was so often wrong that he got so much ridicule that he fell into depression and died in 1865.
The interview in the catalog with the climate researcher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is particularly tragic, and he asks whether he, as an advisor to the Federal Government, often answers desperately, salomonically: "I have no choice but to believe in the possibility that we can still prevent a complete destabilization of the climate. "
He gives mankind a chance of 1: 5 to prevent the worst. FitzRoy did not know anything about the weather, one like Schellnhuber knows a lot about the climate, but politicians hardly really listen.
The 23rd World Climate Conference will take place in Bonn in November 2017. Hopefully, many of the participants will stop by at one of the negotiation breaks.
Weather. About weather culture and climate science. Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Until March 4, 2018. The catalog costs 45 euros.
Saturday, October 07, 2017
''The Cli-Fi REport'' mirror site for cli-fi trends and news links
''The Cli-Fi REport'' mirror site for cli-fi trends and news links at https://danbloom.wixsite.com/website Under construction. News tips links welcome.
Education in Taiwan must focus on the real history of Taiwan: an oped by Lee Min-yung in Taipei (translated from the Liberty Times into Engliish for the Taipei Times)
A well-known poet and essayist in Taiwan, Mr Min-yung Lee, often writes opeds in the major Chinese-language newspapers in Taiwan, with the Liberty Times daily paper being his most popular platform. I've been following his work for years and now his columns are reprinted in English in the Taipei Times newspaper, the sister publication of the Liberty Times. Expert translators do the translations and the final product in English is important to share worldwide, so that the rest of the world learns the truth about Taiwan.
Taiwan is not part of Communist China, and never was and never will be. It is an independent, sovereign nation 100 or so miles off the coast of Communist China. For Taiwan's 23 million people, Taiwan is home, Taiwan is their nation.
In a recent oped, Mr. Lee wrote, among other things:
''Taiwan’s modern and contemporary history dates from more than a century ago. During the early period between 1895 and 1945, it was subject to Japanization. The middle period from 1945 to 1995 was one of sinicization, and the late period, since 1995, has seen an unfinished process of Taiwanization.
''Starting from the nation’s native inhabitants, the Aborigines, Taiwan has passed through various stages, including Dutch colonization, followed by the Kingdom of Tungning founded by Cheng Cheng-kung better known as Koxinga, and then by the Qing Dynasty. In the process, it has formed a cultural profile that is different from China’s and manifests itself in daily life.
''Taiwan is separated from China by a stretch of sea. It is closer to the East Asian nations of Japan and North and South Korea, and more distant from the countries of Southeast Asia. That is because the former fall within the cultural sphere of Chinese characters, while the latter moved away from China’s cultural orbit when they came under European colonial rule.
''Taiwan has shifted the emphasis of its relations in the region from a northbound orientation to a southbound one, hoping to expand its trade, business and cultural relations with Southeast Asian countries so as to reduce the risk that results from excessive reliance on China.
''Taiwan is a special place — a political, economic and cultural entity that is a nation and yet is not one. After World War II, Taiwan, unlike other former colonies in Asia, did not choose to become independent. Instead, it became entangled in the all-out war between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
''Consequently, Ilha Formosa, which could have grown into a small, but beautiful country, cannot stand tall on the world stage, even though it does in fact exist."
To read the entire essay, see the Taipei Times link here.
Taiwan is not part of Communist China, and never was and never will be. It is an independent, sovereign nation 100 or so miles off the coast of Communist China. For Taiwan's 23 million people, Taiwan is home, Taiwan is their nation.
In a recent oped, Mr. Lee wrote, among other things:
''Taiwan’s modern and contemporary history dates from more than a century ago. During the early period between 1895 and 1945, it was subject to Japanization. The middle period from 1945 to 1995 was one of sinicization, and the late period, since 1995, has seen an unfinished process of Taiwanization.
''Starting from the nation’s native inhabitants, the Aborigines, Taiwan has passed through various stages, including Dutch colonization, followed by the Kingdom of Tungning founded by Cheng Cheng-kung better known as Koxinga, and then by the Qing Dynasty. In the process, it has formed a cultural profile that is different from China’s and manifests itself in daily life.
''Taiwan is separated from China by a stretch of sea. It is closer to the East Asian nations of Japan and North and South Korea, and more distant from the countries of Southeast Asia. That is because the former fall within the cultural sphere of Chinese characters, while the latter moved away from China’s cultural orbit when they came under European colonial rule.
''Taiwan has shifted the emphasis of its relations in the region from a northbound orientation to a southbound one, hoping to expand its trade, business and cultural relations with Southeast Asian countries so as to reduce the risk that results from excessive reliance on China.
''Taiwan is a special place — a political, economic and cultural entity that is a nation and yet is not one. After World War II, Taiwan, unlike other former colonies in Asia, did not choose to become independent. Instead, it became entangled in the all-out war between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
''Consequently, Ilha Formosa, which could have grown into a small, but beautiful country, cannot stand tall on the world stage, even though it does in fact exist."
To read the entire essay, see the Taipei Times link here.
Friday, October 06, 2017
"Blade Runner 2049" is about global warming or global cooling? Great cli-fi movie, but bad science? Critics are having a field day!
"Blade Runner 2049" is about global warming or global cooling? Great cli-fi movie, but bad science? Critics are having a field day!
When I lived in Tokyo in the 1990s, one of my friends at the English-language newspaper where I worked, Tom Bradford, who was from the Los Angeles area before flying over to Japan for a journalism gig, kept telling me about how Tokyo at night reminded him so much of the Ridley Scott cult film "Blade Runner." And Tom was right: Tokyo at night was and still is "Blade Runner" writ large.
The film was set in a near future of 2019. We are almost there.
Now comes the latest iteration of the "Blade Runner" meme in 2017 and it's titled "Blade Runner 2049" since it takes place 30 years later -- in 2049.
And this new movie is a cli-fi film, and it gives climate change a starring role. But there's just one problem: while the movie talks about climate change, viewers will see that Los Angeles in 2049 is 30 degrees cooler than today's temperatures and is also hit by strong sub-Arctic blasts of cold air.
''Global warming,'' or ''global cooling''?
Leah Schade, a visionary ''eco-preacher'' who is a Lutheran professor of preaching and worship at the Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky, recently wrote a very good article on the Patheos website about the new movie, which she headlined "'Blade Runner 2049': Cli-Fi at Its Best."
Her subheadline was telling.
''Blade Runner 2049 is cli-fi (climate fiction) at its best with superb visual effects, an absorbing storyline, fascinating characters, and poignant religious/philosophical themes.''
John Siciliano, writing for the Washington Examiner website, wrote about "Blade Runner 2049," too.
"The sequel to the 1982 science-fiction movie classic "Blade Runner," which [recently] opened nationwide, looks to give climate change a starring role, according to official summaries and timelines released by the film's production house," Siciliano wrote.
He added: "Set 30 years in the future from the original film's 2019 setting, 'Blade Runner 2049' shows an Earth devastated by the ravages of climatic shifts in temperature and sea-level rise, which has plunged large chunks of Los Angeles into the Pacific Ocean."
So with "Blade Runner 2049" hitting the silver screen and social media platforms and YouTube this month and over the next 12 months as the movie fans out around the world, film critics and climate scientists will be left wondering: Was this movie about global warming or global cooling?
Is this "The Day After Tomorrow" all over again? Great movie, bad science?
Thursday, October 05, 2017
LIZ JENSEN's cli-fi novel THE RAPTURE
THE RAPTURE INTRODUCES a version of life in early-twenty-first-century Britain that is at once clearly recognizable and yet somewhat distorted, recalling the introduction of Atlantican society in The Paper Eater. The shift that has apparently taken place between the world familiar to the reader and that of Jensen's fiction is immediately evident from the evocation in the novel's opening sentence: “That summer, the summer all the rules began to change” (TR, 3). The opening in medias res onto a situation in which some unstoppable cataclysm has already taken place, the effects of which will be felt in the course of the novel, is a typical technique of Jensen's, and the opening sentence, with its suggestion of disruption and discontinuity with the past, clearly echoes Charlotte's reference in the prologue of My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time to “the laws of time [being] turned on their head” (ST, 3).
Britain in 2013 in The Rapture is on the very verge of a crisis that is apparently linked to climate change, with drought followed by “maverick weather” (4)—during which the winds wreak destruction, “flattening corn, uprooting trees, smashing hop silos and storage barns”—having become customary (4). The novel is set largely in Hadport, a fictional town on the Kent coast. A series of short info-dumps establishes the parameters of the disaster: “The latest projections predict the loss of the Arctic ice cap and a global temperature rise of up to six degrees within Bethany's lifetime” (23). It becomes clear that a battle against the elements is played out on a daily basis, with sunglasses and sunscreen among the absolute necessities carried at all times by the wheelchair-bound Gabrielle Fox. “The heat is abrasive, a hairdryer with no off-switch…. Everyone is wearing sunglasses. I can't think of the last time I saw anyone's eyes in daylight. Or the last time I bared mine” (35).
This is a world that is no longer evolving, no longer developing or growing, but rather is waiting for the end, a recurrent chronotope in Jensen's work. It is also a world that is rapidly running out of oil, and that has never recovered from the “global financial crisis” (10).
Britain in 2013 in The Rapture is on the very verge of a crisis that is apparently linked to climate change, with drought followed by “maverick weather” (4)—during which the winds wreak destruction, “flattening corn, uprooting trees, smashing hop silos and storage barns”—having become customary (4). The novel is set largely in Hadport, a fictional town on the Kent coast. A series of short info-dumps establishes the parameters of the disaster: “The latest projections predict the loss of the Arctic ice cap and a global temperature rise of up to six degrees within Bethany's lifetime” (23). It becomes clear that a battle against the elements is played out on a daily basis, with sunglasses and sunscreen among the absolute necessities carried at all times by the wheelchair-bound Gabrielle Fox. “The heat is abrasive, a hairdryer with no off-switch…. Everyone is wearing sunglasses. I can't think of the last time I saw anyone's eyes in daylight. Or the last time I bared mine” (35).
This is a world that is no longer evolving, no longer developing or growing, but rather is waiting for the end, a recurrent chronotope in Jensen's work. It is also a world that is rapidly running out of oil, and that has never recovered from the “global financial crisis” (10).
New York Times covers cli-fi from time to time: here is the Google Search Window and the NYT search window too
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection=Climate®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Multimedia#/cli-fi/since1851/allresults/1/allauthors/newest/
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/?action=click&contentCollection=Climate®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Multimedia#/cli-fi/since1851/allresults/1/allauthors/newest/
Can Hollywood Movies About Climate Change Make a Difference?
- To galvanize audiences: Don’t use apocalyptic plots. But a dose of humor? That might help.
- October 02, 2017 - - Movies - Print Headline: "Climate-Change Film? Is Emma Stone in It?"
News Coverage of Coal’s Link to Global Warming, in 1912
A 61-word article in two obscure New Zealand newspapers nailed the connection between coal burning and global warming .October 21, 2016 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "News Coverage of Coal’s Link to Global Warming, in 1912"Building Visions of Humanity’s Climate Future – in Fiction and on Campus
A call for fresh narratives and roadmaps aimed at charting a human journey with the fewest regrets.January 15, 2016 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "Building Visions of Humanity’s Climate Future – in Fiction and on Campus"Q. and A.: Chang-rae Lee on His Tale of Migrants From an Environmentally Ruined China
The Korean-American author’s new novel, “On Such a Full Sea,” centers on a Chinese woman named Fan who is a laborer in a city called B-Mor, a future version of Baltimore.March 20, 2015 - - World - Print Headline: "Q. and A.: Chang-rae Lee on His Tale of Migrants From an Environmentally Ruined China"Climate Fiction Fantasy
The real stretch? That humanity will be able to escape the disaster.December 10, 2014 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "Climate Fiction Fantasy"'Extreme Whether' Explores the Climate Fight as a Family Feud
A new play tries to engage audiences on global warming through a family feud over fossil fuels, dying frogs and melting ice.October 22, 2014 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "'Extreme Whether' Explores the Climate Fight as a Family Feud"The Power of Climate Change Fiction
Will movies and novels about the effects of climate change make a difference in how people react to global warming?July 29, 2014 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "The Power of Climate Change Fiction"Three Long Views of Life With Rising Seas
A novelist, an astrobiologist and an ecologist explore the impact of centuries of rising seas.May 14, 2014 - - Opinion - Print Headline: "Three Long Views of Life With Rising Seas"College Classes Use Arts to Brace for Climate Change
A growing number of university courses are using the creative arts, including “climate fiction,” to respond to what many students consider one of society’s central challenges.April 01, 2014 - - Education - Print Headline: "College Classes Use Arts to Brace for Climate Change"
Cli-Fi Movie "GEOSTORM" is coming soon to a theater new you and all cli-fi mentions will be archived here
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Hollywood's Missed, and Mixed, Messages
Yale Climate Connections
No cli-fi film since has been as commercially successful as TDAT, but several have spurred and some have shaped national conversations ...
Dean Devlin's new cli-fi movie GEOSTORM opens October 21, 2017
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2017年8月17日 - A powerful *cli-fi* novel by J.M. Ledgard published in 2011 and in 2013, ... http://翻譯這個網頁
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Gerard Butler's cli-fi movie ''Geostorm
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2016年6月19日 - Gerard Butler's cli-fi movie ''Geostorm,'' directed by Dean Devlin, ... Warner Bros. has delayed the Geostorm by 9 months to October 20, 2017.翻譯這個網頁
Dean Devlin's new cli-fi movie 'Geostorm' has lessons for global ...
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2017年6月22日 - Meanwhile, I'm betting that “Geostorm” will usher in a new era in Hollywood cli-fi films and turn out to actually motivate viewers (and movie ...翻譯這個網頁
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"Geostorm" is the next cli-fi movie from Hollywood... - blogger
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2017年6月20日 - "Geostorm" is the next cli-fi movie from Hollywood and it opens in October. A 'cli-fi' movie for our times. MOVIE TRAILER LINK:翻譯這個網頁
An excerpt from an interview with Nancy Lord in Alaska about her new cli-fi novel, ''pH''
An excerpt from an interview with poet and climate activist Nancy Lord in Alaska about her new cli-fi novel, ''pH''
THE INTERVIEWER IN CANADA ASKED: Your newest work of fiction, the cli-fi novel pH, involves marine scientists working in Alaska on ocean warming and acidification. Can you tell us something about the novel? How much of your real-life experiences inspired this novel?
Nancy: After writing mainly nonfiction in recent years, I decided to tackle ocean issues in what might be a more interesting and compelling way for readers.
pH is a comic cli-fi novel, with characters in conflict and a plot surrounding institutional corruption. I hope that it has some resonance right now, since it addresses ways of knowing, the manipulation of facts, and ethical choices. The science behind it is all real—the oceans are being affected by warming and acidification. The first section takes place on an oceanographic cruise; I spent a week on one in 2010, which provided the basis for what I describe as work on the ship. It’s hard to pick out, otherwise, what personal experience fed into my imagined world and the lives of my characters.
INTERVIEWER: ....how can environmental literature appeal to readers these days, especially with the glut of global narratives coming at us in every direction – many of them having valid appeals for us to be concerned about so many issues?
Nancy: I think that environmental fiction can have great appeal these days because it can tell compelling stories without being heavy-handed with message. Readers are suffering from “bad news syndrome” right now—inclined to turn away from reading (or hearing) about every new disaster and every thing that we’d doing to damage the Earth and its creatures. Fictions that can tell humorous or inspiring stories seem much more palatable—and can still inform readers about serious issues. Some cli-fi novels in this line that I admire are Ian McEwan’s Solar, Ann Pancake’s Strange As This Weather Has Been, Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior, and T. C. Boyle’s When the Killing’s Done. Of course, there’s still room for every kind of environmental literature, including reporting; I just think that cli-fi is having its day.
The featured image is credited to photographer Stacy Studebaker.
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